1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved process for the supported liquid phase alkylation of hydrocarbon feed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Supported liquid phase alkylation is known to be carried out in a reactor with a fixed bed of appropriate particular contact material, on which a moveable reaction zone is established within a confined area of the contact material with an adsorbed perfluorinated alkyl sulphonic acid alkylation catalyst. As the alkylation reactions proceed in the reaction zone, the zone moves as a band through the reactor within the fixed bed of contact material (U.S. Pat. No 5,220,095).
The downstream portion of the reaction zone is, thereby, substantially horizontal levelled across the sectional area of the reactor during migration of the reaction zone. The upstream portion of the reaction zone is observed to migrate at different velocity on the reactor cross section and with different velocity than the downstream portion. This may result in differences in the reaction zone thickness as the zone migrates from top to bottom of the reactor. The different migration velocity may be caused by radial differences of the contact material loading density or particle size distribution.